Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1887-03-10

was cheap at that price, Then bought
beautiful team of twenty salted Zulu oxen,
which had had my eye on for year or
two. Sixteen oxen are the usual number for
a team, but l had four extra to allow for
casualties. These Zulu oxen ire small and
light, not more than half the size OF the
Africander oxen, which are generally used
for transport purposes; but they Will 1--we
where the AfricanderS will starve, and with
light load will make five miles day bet
ter going being quicker and not SO liable to
get foOtsore.
What is more, this lot were thoroughly
sailed" that is, they had worked all over
South Africa, and SO had become proof
comparatively speaking) against red wa
ter, which SO frequently destroys Whole
teams Of oxen when they get on to strange
'.veldt" (graSS country. AS for Lung
sick" which is dreadful form of pneumo-
MIA, very prevalent in this country, they had
all been inOculated against it, This is done
| by cutting a slit in the tail OF an OK, and
binding in piece Of the diseased lung Of an
animal which has died of the sickness. The
| result is that the OK sickens, takes the dis
ease in mild form, which causes its tail to
| drop off, as rule about foot from the
| root and becomes proof against future at
| tackS. Lit seems cruel to rob the animal of
! his tail, especially in q country where there
are so many flies, but it is better to sacrifice
the tail and keep the OK than to lose both
| tail and OK, for tail without an OK is not
| much good except to dust with. Still it
does look odd 80 trek along behind twenty
| stumps, where there ought to be tails 1t
seems as though nature had made a trfiing
mistake, and stuck the stern ornaments of a
| lot Of prize bulldogs on to the rumpS of the
oxen.
Next came the question of provisioning
and medicines, one which required the most
careful consideration, for what one, had to
do was to avoid numbering the wagon up
and yet take everything absolutely neces-
sary. Fortunately, 1t turned out that Good
was bit of doctor, having at some period
in his previous career managed to pass
through course of medical and surgical in
structionS, which he had more or less kept
UP. lie was not Of course, qualified, but lie
knew more about it than many man who
could write M. D. after his name, as we
found out afterward, and he had a splendid
travelling medicine chest and a set of nstru-
ments. Whilst we were at Durham he cut
off kafir'S big toe in way which it was a
pleasure to see. But he was quite flabber-
gaSted when the Kafir, who had sat Stoldily
watching the operation, asked him to put on
another. saying that 'Whte one' would
90 at q pinch.
There remained, when these questions
were satisfactorily settled, two further i'm
pOrtant points for consideration, namely,
that of arms and that Of servants. AS to the
arms l cannot do better than put down
list of those we finally decided on from
among the ample store that Sir Henry had
brought with him from England, and those
which / had. l copy it from my pocket
book, where l made the entry at the time
"Three heavy breechloading double-eght
elephant guns, weighing about fifteen pounds
each, with a heavy charge of eleven drains
of black POWDER Two pounds of these
were by a welI-known London firm, most
excellent makers but | do not know by
whom mine, which was not so highly fin
ished, was made. | had used it on several
trips, and shot a good many elephants with
it, and it always proved most superior
weapon, thoroughly TO be relied on.
''rmee double tiye-hundred expresses,
constructed to carry a charge of six drams,"
sweet weapons, ana admirable for medium
sized game, such as Gland and sable ante
lOpe, or for men, especially in an open cOun-
try and with the Semi-hollow bullet
"One double No. IL central-fre Keepers
shotgun, full choke both barrels This
gun proved of the greatest service to us af-
terward i'll shooting game for the pot
''Threc Winchester repeating rides (not
carbincS), spare guns.
'ThrAn siu~l'-2ction Colts reviewers with
the heavier PATTERN OF cartridge"
This was our total armament and the
reader will doubtless observe that the wea
pOnS of each class were of the same make
and caliber so that the cartridges were inter
changeable, very Important point. make
no apology for detailing it at length. for
every experienced hunter will know how
vital proper supply of guns and ammun-
ton is 10 the success of an expedition.
Now, as to the men who were to go with
US. After much consultation we decided
that their number should be limited to five.
namely, driver, q leader and three Sery
ants.
The driver and leader | got without much
difficulty, two Zuus, named respectively
Coca and Tom, but the servants were more
difficult matter. 1t was necessary that they
should be thoroughly trustworthy and brave
men, as in a business of this sort our lives
might depend upon their conduct. At last
secured two, one a Hottentot called Vent
vogel (wind-bird), and one a little Zulu
named khlva, who had the merit of speak
ing English perfectly. Ventvogel l had
known before; he was one of the most per-
feet ''spoorers' (game-trackers) l ever had
to do with, and tough as whipcord. He
never seemed to tire. But he had one fail
ing so common with his race, drink. Put
him within reach of a bottle of grog and you
could not trust him. But as we were going
beyond the region of grog-shops this little
weakness of his did not so much matter.
Having got these two men, looked in
vain for a third to suit my purpose, so we
determined to start without one, trusting to
luck to find suitable man on our way up
country. But on the evening before the day
we had fixed for our departure the Zulu
khiva Informed me that man was waiting
to see me. Accordingly, when we had done
dinner, for we were at table at the time,
told him to bring him in. Presently a very
tall, handsome-looking man, somewhere
about thirty years of age, and very light
colored for Zulu, entered, and, lifting his
lsnob-stick by way of salute, squatted him
self down in the corner on his launches,
and sat silent [ did not take any notice of